Audun Aase
A family portrait is on its way
The Power Engineer
Audun Aase
b. 25 September 1930, Haugesund – d. 15 January 2000, Bergen
Into a family of farmers, teachers and politicians, a man of an entirely different kind arrived in 1963: a power engineer. Audun Aase, who married Brita Tynning that year, belonged to the generation that electrified and modernised post-war Norway, and he ended up as chief engineer of Bergen Lysverker, the company that supplied all of Bergen with electricity. While his brother-in-law Torstein sat in committees at the Storting, Audun sat in the power industry's national committees. Chairmen, they both became.
From Haugesund to the power industry
Audun Aase was born on 25 September 1930 in Haugesund, son of Bernt Aase. Mentions of his name appear in the Haugesund newspapers as early as the 1940s. The farm and family history of Eidanger titles him sivilingeniør, and in 1956 «Audun Aase, Bergen» is listed among the new members of the electrotechnical association in Elektroteknisk tidsskrift. By then the 26-year-old engineer was already in place in the city where he would remain for the rest of his life.
The power engineer in Bergen
A register of Norwegian civil engineers lists Audun Aase as a civil engineer in electrical engineering, graduating in 1954. He later became chief engineer at Bergen Lysverker, working in a field that was decisive for the expansion and modernisation of the electricity supply in the post-war years.
Bergen's man of electricity
He made his career at Bergen Lysverker, the city's own power company, where he rose to chief engineer. And as in the rest of the family, the positions of trust followed: when the Norwegian Electricity Works Association appointed a working group on the design of the future distribution network, chief engineer Audun Aase of Bergen Lysverker became its chairman, and the report was published in 1974. Nearly ten years later, in 1983, he signed the introduction to the report «Kompensering i fordelingsnett» as chairman of the NEVF Distribution Network Committee. It is not reading material that reaches the front pages, but it was work like this that determined how electricity actually reached Norwegian homes. The professionals' chairman, for more than a decade.
The family in Bergen
In 1963 Audun married Brita Tynning, a teacher from Søndre Valler, and they built their life in Bergen. There the children Tore, Torunn and Jenny Hild grew up, with the summers and family gatherings in Eidanger as a fixed point. The three of them now have six children between them: Camilla (b. 1996) and Thomas (b. 1998) Endresen Aase (Tore), Sofie (b. 1994) and Henrik (b. 1999) Drange (Torunn), and the twins Brita and Lise Husby (b. 2008, Jenny Hild). With Audun and Brita, the Tynning family gained its western branch, in the county where the story once began.
Audun Aase died on 15 January 2000 in Bergen, 69 years old. It was the beginning of the family's heavy year: ten months later his brother-in-law Torstein died, and in 2006 Brita followed.
Help us finish the story
To Tore, Torunn and Jenny Hild: How did Audun and Brita meet, in Bergen? What was his formal position at Bergen Lysverker, and which developments and plants was he involved in? What kind of father and grandfather was he? And do photographs exist: from the Haugesund years, the wedding in 1963, the working life at Lysverkene?
Role in the family story
«The power engineer» — the chief engineer from Haugesund who kept the lights on in Bergen.
Connection
From Haugesund to Bergen — with Brita he gave the Tynning family its western branch, in the county where the story once began.
Key dates
- Born 25 September 1930 in Haugesund — son of Bernt Aase
- Civil engineer in electrical engineering — graduated 1954
- New member of the electrotechnical association in 1956
- Chief engineer at Bergen Lysverker
- Married Brita Tynning in 1963 — settled in Bergen
- Chairman of the working group behind the NEVF distribution network report (1974)
- Chairman of the NEVF Distribution Network Committee (1983)
- Died 15 January 2000 in Bergen, aged 69
Family relationships
- Son of Bernt Aase
- Married Brita Tynning Aase in 1963
- Father of Tore, Torunn and Jenny Hild
- Brother-in-law of Torstein and Åsmund Lasse Tynning
Memories
Audun Aase died on 15 January 2000 at Haukeland hospital and was laid to rest from Storetveit church on 21 January.
From the newspapers when he died
The death notice:
«My dear patient Audun, our wise kind dad, our good father-in-law and grandfather Audun Aase died on 15 January 2000 at Haukeland Hospital, 69 years old. Brita. Tore – Christine. Torunn – Arne. Jenny Hild. Camilla, Thomas, Sofie, Henrik. The ceremony […]»
Bergens Tidende, 18.1.2000, also in Varden and Haugesunds Avis, 18.1., and Bergensavisen, 20.1.2000.
Obituary from his colleagues:
«[In] January the former technical director of Bergen Lysverker, Audun Aase, died, barely 70 years old. On Friday 21 January family, friends and former colleagues gathered in Storetveit church to follow Aase to his last rest. Aase spent his entire working life at Bergen Lysverker. He was employed as an assistant engineer in 1956, and later held positions as distribution engineer and […] His reputation from such forums made us feel proud to work at Bergen Lysverker. […] We thank Audun Aase for outstanding service over more than 40 years. Colleagues at BKK, Olav Solberg.»
Aftenposten, 7.2.2000 (text extract only; the full text can be read at nb.no with a login).